Japan’s national team manager Alberto Zaccheroni has claimed that he wants the national team to do well at the World Cup 2014.

Even though Japan go into the tournament as one of the strongest teams from the Asian region, they are not expected to fight for the title. European nations like Spain and Germany along with South American teams like Brazil and Argentina have been regarded as the favourites for the competition. Zaccheroni, whose Japanese team will be playing Colombia, Greece, and Ivory Coast in the group stages, thinks that they can do well at this tournament.

Japan were reasonably good during the recent 2013 Confederations cup and Zaccheroni believes that this experience helps the team a lot. The Italian is one of the several foreign managers in the Asian region, but he believes that he has managed to adapt to the culture in his time in Japan. Zaccheroni says that he has not tried to curb the enthusiasm of the Japanese players, who are natural dreamers according to him. This is helping him mould the team according to the Japanese culture.

Zaccheroni was linked with a return to European club football in the last few months. Lazio were interested in his services, but it seems that he will be with the Japanese national team until the World Cup.

“Confederations Cup gave us a chance to see the distances involved, the climate and humidity, and to see where we are in footballing terms, the things we need to work on. As for the World Cup itself, it will be a great experience for Japan to play in Brazil. The Japanese really admire Brazilian football and we all want to create a good impression. Most of the pressure on us comes from the Japan fans, who expect a lot of the team. What it does is just motivate us even more,” said Zaccheroni.